The Reflection
by Mikado X Goddess
Summary: Chloe's past revealed as the story continues. Friends and enemies awakened. Can Chloe face the past that haunts her, and the Shadow who killed her mom. Chloe/Derek. Simon/OC. Tori/OC later chapters. T for safety. TEMPORARY HIATUS   NOT ENOUGH REVIEWS.
1. Chapter 1

**After The Reckoning – CPOV**

Derek held my hand as we walked back to the motel room, I could see Aunt Lauren pacing, waiting for us to get back, afraid we might be doing something more than just walking. I could have told her she didn't have to worry Derek was not that kind of guy, I know. As for if she was concerned about the Edison Group finding us, one – I don't think they could catch up that fast: and two – Derek would have heard them.

I think Derek was having a hard time believing it was him I was in love with. Wait did I just say _love?_ Wow I guess I did. It seemed kind of soon but I love Derek. Ha. I love Derek Souza. Better not tell anyone that, for several reasons. Tori would laugh, Liz hadn't even been filled in that I liked Derek at all yet, Simon would flip if I told him I was completely in love with his brother, I didn't know Mr. Bae all that well - at all, actually, and Aunt Lauren would freak out – more than she already is if I told her that. Not to mention Derek might not even feel that way about me. I mean I could figure he liked me but was that just a crush or did he feel for me as deeply as I felt about him? I had to talk to someone. All at once my face started sting, lost in my thoughts however I ignored it. But who could I talk to? Dad? No he'd find me if I contacted him at all. Kari? No she thinks I'm escaped from a nuthouse. Kayla? Perfect, I didn't think she could track me easily and I knew the exact way to contact her. Perfect.

I realised I must have been out of it in my thoughts because everyone was stood in front of me calling my name and Aunt Lauren was shaking me, all of them looked worried, even Tori. Wow. What had happened? Suddenly I realised why my face was stinging, someone – probably Tori - had slapped me.

"Ouch that hurt." I said

Everyone seemed to relax, even Derek looked less tense.

"Are you okay Chloe? What happened to you? You were gone for ages there. You scared us, um I mean them" said Tori, I thought I was the one who stuttered?

"Sorry. I just zoned out, what happened? Why do you all look like I raised something? Oh no, did I raise something? What? Who slapped me? Was that really necessary? And why has no one got me some ice for my cheek? It burns." I complained.

"Well your eyes glazed sort of, they kind of looked like mirrors for a second. No, you didn't raise anything, I think, and Tori was the one who slapped you, though I didn't think it was a good idea, and it didn't really bring you back straight away so I don't think it was necessary, and even though it was scary seeing you like that, it was also very funny to see Tori's face when Derek growled at her for hitting you, as to the ice, we have none. Sorry." Simon very hastily answered.

"Um, okay, but I was joking about the ice. And really, I'm fine just got lost in my thoughts for second. Sorry to have worried you all." I replied.

A knock sounded at the door. Aunt Lauren drew out a gun I didn't even know she had and asked who it was. No one answered. I looked to Derek, sure he would have smelt if anyone had come up to our room, but he was looking – and growling toward the bathroom. Suddenly I realised the tapping was coming from there.

I ran into the tiny room with one no longer white shower, one once white toilet and a basin which appeared to have come straight out of snow white – as in the dwarf's cottage – it was so small. I looked above the sink to the one mirror which hung there. Instead of reflecting the dingy bathroom however, it showed a teenage girl with large soft brown eyes which looked far too large for her face, with stark white skin like monumental alabaster, framed by locks of dark dusty red hair. Kayla.


	2. Chapter 2

**DPOV**

Chloe was really scaring me, she was just stood there staring straight ahead, her face showed no emotion what so ever, which was what really worried me, she was always an open book, her face displaying every emotion. We were just walking back to the motel room after our um _walk. _I really liked Chloe, no I loved Chloe, to me she was everything.

After I had almost changed back at Lyle House and Chloe had stayed with, me through it, she was truly the most stubborn person I had ever met - secretly I loved that about her, even if it got her into more trouble than it was worth – I had decided that no matter what, I'd take what I could get with her. It was impossible for her to ever love someone- something - like me, especially next to Simon, so if all I could be was her friend I was determined to try to be that, her friend. She was also the most beautiful, the most intelligent, and the most selfless person I had ever met.

I was still really struggling with the idea that she liked me; she could never care for me as deeply as I did about her and it was probably only a short term relationship for her. I couldn't exactly tell her I suspected she was my mate, she'd run screaming for sure – even if she hadn't already – if she understood what that meant. I mean the concept terrified even me. The fact that my mate would be the only one I could ever love, that if she ever died I would lose my mind and want to die myself, even go so far as to kill myself. As well as the fact that she would be the only one who could ever bear my children. _Whoa, getting ahead of myself._ Children. _Ok slow down a minute here. _Mine and Chloe's children. _Bad Derek. Stop._ I pictured little boys and girls with black hair and bright blue eyes filled with innocence. I felt a curious stabbing in my heart, that would never happen, I knew. Especially since without my mate, I would be completely, um, impotent. Yeh. That would definitely terrify Chloe.

I suddenly realised I was lost in my thoughts too, I hadn't even realised that I'd picked Chloe up and had carried her inside the girls motel room, everyone was around us, trying to snap Chloe out of it. Suddenly Tori slapped Chloe in the face, before I knew what I was doing I was _growling_ at _Tori._ Out of nowhere Simon started _laughing_.

Chloe started to blink, she reached up to hold her cheek, which was turning red, I was going to kill Tori, and said "Ouch that hurt."I relaxed a little.

"Are you okay Chloe? What happened to you? You were gone for ages there. You scared us, um I mean them" said Tori. Who knew she cared?

"Sorry. I just zoned out, what happened? Why do you all look like I raised something? Oh no, did I raise something? What? Who slapped me? Was that really necessary? And why has no one got me some ice for my cheek? It burns." Who knew she could talk so fast, I barely caught it all, apparently though Simon did too because he just as quickly, if not more rapidly answered.

"Well your eyes glazed sort of, they kind of looked like mirrors for a second. No, you didn't raise anything, I think, and Tori was the one who slapped you, though I didn't think it was a good idea, and it didn't really bring you back straight away so I don't think it was necessary, and even though it was scary seeing you like that, it was also very funny to see Tori's face when Derek growled at her for hitting you, as to the ice, we have none. Sorry." So that's why he started laughing. I didn't think anyone heard that. Great.

"Um, okay, but I was joking about the ice. And really, I'm fine just got lost in my thoughts for a second. Sorry to have worried you all." She replied. Of course she worried us.

I relaxed, feeling better knowing it wasn't some ghost or supernatural imprint, like back in the forest where I almost changed the second time, after we got off the bus at the truck stop. I hadn't told Chloe how much it freaked me out that she seemed so gone, staring at nothing with a helpless, tortured look on her face. Nor had I told her how much it hurt she hadn't woke me to tell me about it, yet at the same time sweet that she cared enough to go though that to watch over me. No one had had my back like that before not even Simon, maybe Dad but never a virtual stranger in more danger than I was.

My instincts abruptly went on high alert, not to Danger exactly, just a presence, but werewolves couldn't sense ghosts and Chloe was looking at me, not empty space. All at once a tapping sounded from..._the bathroom?_ Lauren pulled out a gun and called out, to ask who was there, but they were wrong the knocking had come from the other direction everyone had their attention to the front door. But the sound wasn't like a knock on wood, more like glass.

Unexpectedly Chloe ran into the bathroom, I chased after her, determined to protect her from any danger. But there was no one in the room, behind us I could hear Lauren opening the door to our room and going outside. That's when I notice the mirror, instead of reflecting the grungy bathroom; it reflected a teenage girl with brown eyes and red hair. What? I went to step between Chloe and the mirror, not sure what was going on, but I wanted Chloe safe an out of the way. As Dad always told us don't fight if you don't know what you're fighting, there's no shame in running from a potential threat, because it looks innocent.


	3. Chapter 3

Startlingly the girl in the mirror smiled? And began to speak. To Chloe?

"Hiya Chloe, did you want something? You called me." She said.

Even more unexpected was that Chloe spoke back!

"Hello, Kayla. But I didn't call you. I was going to but haven't had a chance. Are you sure you didn't just have a vision of me calling you in the future?" Chloe replied to the mirror. Okay, this was weird.

"Now that is weird." Simon expressed my sentiments exactly.

I spun round and realised everyone was trying to crowd into the small room.

"No. I am positive that you called me." The girl in the mirror was talking again.

"Are you certain, I don't think I did? Come through, I do need to talk to you anyway." Chloe said

"Okay, but make sure no one is gonna try and kill me first, dying is not fun, as you and I well know" what did she mean by that? "Especially wolf-boy Derek there, I'm not going to hurt any of you ya know, and Lauren for goodness sake, put down the gun. And Kit, please get those thoughts out of your head, ya don't want to burn the motel down. As to the _other_ stuff, inappropriate to think about right now, it but she likes you too, and as far as I can tell ya marry her. K so I really hope Derek, Simon and Tori don't mind having her as a stepmom or Chloe as a cousin. Ooops."WHAT?

Chloe's face completely bleached, and Dad's actually turned a similar red to a tomato. What was the girl in the mirror talking about? I wasn't sure but surely they didn't believe her, the girl was rambling, she probably wasn't even real. What was she anyway? Oddly enough no one but Dad and Chloe seemed to have reacted to what the girl way saying. What was it Chloe had called her? Kayla?

I realised the girl was climbing _through _the mirror. Her two small hands, which appeared to be gloved, poked through and she began _stretching? _The mirror open, and started to step through. She appeared taller in person than she did in the mirror but she was still just barely taller than Chloe, which to me was _small._ She was wearing what looked like a modernised medieval robe/dress. At least that's what it looked like from the design. It was a deep purple colour. Now this was getting strange.

As soon as she had stepped out of the mirror, everyone staring at her, it returned to its original shape, and flat as a disk. The mirror that is.

"Please disregard any of the stuff I just said, I'm kind of a seer and I sometimes get the paths crossed, not that I can lie but I was just a little confused. Sorry about that. I'm Kayla by the way; at least that's what you can call me. I'm a Captromancer, hence the mirror. Sorry I can't give you my real name but for my kind names are power, if you know the true name of something you can control it indefinitely. You don't mind me stopping in do you. By the way I'm sixteen." She said, holding out her hand for no one in particular to take.

The strangeness of the situation continued still however when Dad stepped in front of Chloe who looked like she was about to run forward and hug the strange girl, Kayla. He started chanting, a spell probably, but whatever he was saying shocked Simon who completely blanched, but seemed to spurn Chloe into action as she dashed forward and planted herself squarely in front of Dad and Kayla, halting his spell.


	4. Chapter 4

"Chloe, move out of the way, Captromancers are very dangerous, their powers are unnatural sorcery, I know you don't understand all of this but please step aside and let m- "

Dad didn't finish his sentence for three reasons, first, the word dangerous had me moving into a position to protect Chloe and move her out of the way, the second was that Simon, who seemed to have gotten his voice back seemed to stare at Dad in horror as he said,

"Were you really gonna cast a death spell on her Dad. Were you really gonna kill her, she's just a kid like us"

But the most shocking thing was that Chloe had cut Dad off, with the words;

"I understand perfectly."

"I understand what a Captromancer is , I understand that mirrors channel their powers and that using the mirrors enhances their power massively. I understand that they can even use the mirrors as tools to gain otherwise inaccessible knowledge, even to the extents of spying and contacting the Netherworld. I also understand that their gift is genetic and as much a part of them as your magic is a part of you. I know that Kayla is my friend and a good person. Not all Captromancers are evil, Kayla isn't, my Dad isn't and I don't consider myself a bad person either."

Did Chloe just say she was a Captromancer? Whatever that is. But Chloe is a Necromancer, not a Captromancer. What is a Captromancer? I didn't realise I spoken aloud until Kayla started talking to me.

"Well, a Captromancer is basically just like a sorcerer or witch, except they can be of either gender and their power comes from mirrors, they can use the mirrors to cast their spells, in fact they need the mirrors to cast their spells. You might think that this puts them at a disadvantage but actually it makes them much stronger in their magic and more conspicuous. That make sense Derek?" She smiled.

"What is going on here?" I asked.

"Kayla is, as she explained, a Captromancer. So is my father, and so am I. To a lesser degree. I can only do the most basic of spells with a mirror." Chloe explained.

"If you could do spells all along why didn't you? Would have saved a lot of trouble" Tori.

"Well I didn't exactly have a mirror on me and all of my spells are quite weak, I mean I have werewolf and shaman genes in my DNA too but I can't Change or heal people." Chloe said. After which I heard her whisper to herself, "Crap"

Wait, Chloe had werewolf genes?

"Yes, Chloe has werewolf genes, she has the wolf in her, but as the genes aren't supposed to occur in females she can't actually turn. But it's very lucky for her that the Edison Group didn't do a full background check or else they would want her alive rather than dead as any male children of hers would be werewolves too. With entirely correct genes. It's also highly likely that they would be Necromancers, slim chance of them being either Shaman or Captromancer, what with the genes being so weak in Chloe, unless she married a Shaman or Captromancer, which is definitely not going to happen, every possible future I see has her marrying the same guy, she'll be very pleased about it since she's been madly in love with him for months. Right Chloe you totally love-"


	5. Chapter 5

Kayla was suddenly gagged by Chloe's hand and she stopped speaking. When Chloe lowered her hand, Kayla made an embarrassed face.

"Sorry, again disregard. I was rambling"

Did she just say Chloe was going to marry some guy she'd been madly in love with for months? Great I barely even had her now and yet I was definitely going to lose her, at least according to Kayla who granted I didn't know, but my instincts told me wasn't lying. I couldn't believe it. I was going to lose Chloe. I had already lost her. My world. Everything seemed to dull around me, my chest hurt like there was a lead weight on it, I had never cried before in my life, ever, but I felt on the verge of tears. Chloe was going to leave me for sure. What did I have that this mystery guy didn't? Not looks. Certainly, not my personality. My intelligence seemed to irritate everyone including Chloe, even if she was too nice to tell me, I could see the exasperation in her eyes, just like Simon and Dad. My world turned black. I had lost Chloe before I even really had her.

"Ok I'm sorry Chloe, but I have to put him out of his misery, you should hear it. Derek, it's _you_ she marries in every variation of the future I see, as to the whole, what have I got to offer? You're Hot. You have a great personality as far as I can tell. You are highly intelligent and people always get exasperated with the people they love, just because they get a little irritated with you, does not mean they are going to toss you aside, not if they love you and believe me when I tell you, your Dad loves you. Simon loves you. Chloe loves you. Albeit in different ways, else that'd just be creepy. Hell, even Tori and Lauren have soft spots for you, and that is saying something." Okay I was sure I wasn't saying all my feelings out loud so how did she-

"You read my mind" I said. That really ticked me off. I was just beginning to trust her too.

"No, I can't read minds, unless I use a spell for it, but that's dark stuff, disobeys the rule of three. I'm an empath." She replied

She turned to Dad, who was still stood in a defensive position in the doorway, blocking everyone from passing, so that there were only four of us in the tiny bathroom, though I noticed Simon was looking over his shoulder and Tori looking under his arm.

"Look. Set aside that I am a Captromancer; I am also a Seer, which means I can't lie. So I'll answer any of your questions, within reason of course, so I can earn you trust. Okay?" She said

That's when what she'd just said sunk in. She said she couldn't lie and I believed her which meant, Chloe loved me. Chloe was gonna marry me. One day. I hadn't lost her at all. I had her forever. I felt so happy I swear I must have been flying.

I turned to look at Chloe who was just staring at me; everyone else had started to walk back into the bedroom. Chloe met my eyes and blushed; I didn't think she could possibly look more beautiful. I heard Dad start to question Kayla, he still had suspicion in his voice but less so than before, and thankfully all anger seemed to have dispersed.

"Was what Kayla said true?" I asked

"Well Kayla can't lie without feeling immense pain, so you tell me. Did she look in pain at all?" Chloe replied

"No. But I want to hear from you, do you really love me?" I whispered the last words so low I wasn't so sure she heard me. But she walked right up to me until she was directly in front of me, stood on her toes, wrapped her arms around my neck, her beautiful full lips millimetres from mine and whispered "I love you Derek Souza" and kissed me with a strength and passion giving lie to her small, weak appearance.

I was too stunned to do anything but kiss her back, until Kayla yelled from in the other room.

"Hey, empath sitting right in here, yes I can feel all that and it's damn irritating to be just sitting talking one minute and getting hit with a mega dose of sexual tension the next, so quit the necking, cool off and get your horny butts in here! K."

Chloe broke away from me gasping for breath and started laughing. Kayla had said the last part so sweetly in contrast to her apparent anger I didn't know what to think. Especially since she was bang on the mark with her accusation to me at least as I had indeed just been fantasising abut stripping Chloe bare and-

"Bad Derek!" Kayla called. Better get moving before they come in here.


	6. Chapter 6

I followed a still giggling Chloe into the bedroom. That's when the thoughts Chloe+Bed+me=... entered my mind.

"Bad Derek" Kayla muttered, low enough for just me to hear, though Chloe seemed to as well since she shot Kayla a very fierce glare, which just set Kayla into hysterics.

"Okay. Well what do you want to know?" said Kayla

"Your real name would be great for a start." Said Dad

"I tell you what, Christopher. If I think I can trust you with my _true_ name I will tell you it. Okay?" Kayla said

"Wait. I thought you said you couldn't lie. You are lying if you're telling us a false name." Tori commented. She had a point

Strangely enough it was Dad who answered. "Because of the way Captromancers powers work, at birth they are given two names. One that their parents give them, another that the mirror gives them. Both are their real names but the name the mirror gives them is what they call their _true_ name. If anyone knows that name they can control the Captromancer indefinitely. It's actually the same for every living thing, you know its true name, you have absolute power over it. Most people never know their own true names, but Captromancers learn theirs though their mirrors as children, only sometimes they look for the true names of others too, and thus can control them. Which is why I don't trust them. Kayla is probably the name her parents gave her, not the mirror's name for her. Right"

"Correct. Alright I'll give you my true name, if it'll help me earn your trust, will it?" Kayla asked

"Yes" Dad replied

Kayla took a deep breath before saying "Shayaria" At this her eyes lost their colour and became..._mirrors?_

"There my true name, no I will not repeat it, and please don't use it against me, I've had enough of being controlled for a lifetime thanks." She continued

"What do you mean? Someone's controlled you before?" Simon asked with unusual caring. Did Simon like her?

"Yes someone has controlled me with my true name before and the results were,_ unpleasant_."

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened?" Simon asked

Kayla looked over at Chloe and said "It's your story as much as mine." after a brief moment of eye contact Chloe nodded her head.

"Well, first of all Chloe and I have been friends for a long time, since we were kids. Our parents were close friends. Lauren you may remember them – Charlotte and Alexander Hamilton?" she moved on without a response seeing that Lauren was trying to recall them.

"Anyway Chloe's Dad was the one who taught me all about Captromancers, and helped me through a real rough patch when I was four and we discovered I was a seer. You see, Seers are only born every seven generations, and there's only one. So as you can guess it was a pretty big deal. Well even more so since, well every other seer born was human and only had the power of their sight, or as most people call it the eyes of truth. A Seer is able to see everything as it truly is and no form of physical magic works on them, they are also able to see into the future, at least every future but their own. You can imagine the problems with having a powerful Seer having the added powers of a Captromancer. A lot of people would want me out of the picture if they found this out, ya know? Well anyhow, due to the fact that our powers are joined to the truth, we can't lie; at least we're not supposed to be able to. But due to the fact that I have Captromancer abilities as well, I can lie. Bu-"

At this point Dad cut in and said "You told us you couldn't lie, isn't that a lie? I knew you couldn't be trusted!"

He looked ready to start attacking Kayla, but my instincts weren't going off, and as much as I trusted Dad, I couldn't bring myself to go against my instincts, so I stayed were I was. At least until Chloe stepped directly in front of Kayla and said

"Mr. Bae, Kayla can lie, but not without feeling excruciating pain."

I believed Chloe, and so did everyone else from their relaxed poses, even Lauren, so it shocked us all to no end when Dad said

"Prove it"


	7. Chapter 7

Chloe looked as if she was about to object, when Kayla stepped around her placing herself squarely in front of Dad and said

"If I do, will you trust me?"

"Yes" Dad answered

"Your word?"

"Yes" Dad sounded very confident, I guessed it was because he felt confident that nothing would happen, but I felt Kayla was telling the truth. And I knew Chloe was. How could Dad be so cruel like that? I didn't understand, for once.

"Alright." Kayla said, I noticed her mouth twitch curving up into a small but evidently sinister smile "Christopher Bae is not Victoria Enright's father."

"!"

Kayla suddenly dropped to the floor shrieking and screaming in undeniable agony, I could faintly hear what sounded like bones snapping and cracking.

Chloe ran over to Kayla's side, as did everyone else once the initial shock had sunk in, not only that Kayla had told the truth about being unable to lie or the amount of pain she was so obviously in but at the lie she had told, she had said that Dad was not Tori's father, which was a lie, meaning he really was her father, so she was like our sister.

Chloe turned Kayla- who was still screaming- over. I couldn't believe what I saw but I could smell it too. Her eyes were pouring with _blood_. Not tears. Blood.

"Kayla, come on hold my hand, let me help; hold onto to me until it passes." Chloe was saying but Kayla pushed her away as hard as she could which was surprisingly hard as Chloe who had been balanced on her toes was pushed back quite far.

I was about to pin Kayla for pushing Chloe when she suddenly stopped screaming, but was still breathing heavily, gasping for air, like she couldn't get enough into her lungs fast enough.

A minute passed as we all waited for Kayla to recover. Dad was stood staring at her pale with horror.

Still gasping for breath Kayla said "That proof enough, Kit?"

Still in shock Dad nodded his head slowly.

"Sorry for pushing you away Chloe, but I thought you knew better" Kayla said and Chloe looked slightly guilty, but mostly defiant

"Why did you push Chloe away, she was only trying to help, I thought you were friends?" I found myself asking, with I'll admit, bite in my voice

"Empathic powers work both ways, so I can feel what others feel, and they can feel what I feel, everyone is at least slightly empathic anyway, like you can feel when someone is angry or sad or scared when their near you, ya know. Well normally my powers prevent people from picking up my emotions, but because Seers can't lie and the fact that as a Captromancer too mean that I can the two forces conflict and I'm _punished?_ In a way for my lies. So the pain I feel, is my powers being ripped from me, any how with my barriers down, when I'm in pain like that, anyone who touches my skin can feel the pain I'm going through, they share it with me, and Yeh it does ease my pain to share it, you know the saying 'a burden shared, is a burden halved'? Well for me that's literal. But I steadfast refuse to share that pain with Chloe, she's my best friend, in fact I would never share that pain with anyone ever again. Not after-" She broke off

"Not after what?" Simon asked, cautiously

Kayla looked to Chloe and said "It includes you as much as me, do you feel ok with me telling them everything? Cause it's totally your call on this one. I know you trust them but are you ready for them to know it all? Good and Bad? Even Lauren doesn't know it all. Your choice Chloe I know how much this subject hurts you. Your call."


	8. Chapter 8

What was all this about? What did Kayla mean tell us everything? Was there more to all this than we thought? What was painful for Chloe? I couldn't stand to see her in pain. Chloe looked at all of us and after a moment nodded her head.

"Just please don't hate me after you hear this" Chloe whispered so quiet I don't think she intended anyone to hear it, but I did. What did she mean? Why would we hate her? What could possibly be so bad that any of us especially me could hate Chloe? _Chloe?_ I didn't have to wait long to find out as Kayla started to talk.

"Well it's a long story. Firstly until Chloe's mom ...died, Chloe's and my family lived next door to each other. We used to play together since we were both only children. We were best friends good thing too - our powers developed at the same time you see, Chloe was able to see and communicate with ghosts and I was able to cast spells with a mirror.

It all seemed normal at first, even though we were only three at the time. Well, anyway, things started to change, Chloe's power was way more than it should have been, she started to show signs of Captromancy, which didn't worry anyone to begin with, but then she, well, Chloe has never handled death well, we had hamster we shared between us, we used to take care of it together, and one day it died, Chloe took it out of the cage to hold it and she started crying, and she began rocking it back and forth in her arms, her mom came over to take the hamster away to bury it, when it started to move and squeak, it became obvious Chloe had raised it.

Her dad came over to us and told Chloe to release the hamster, but she didn't understand, that's when her mother released it. You see Chloe's mother, Sophie was a Necromancer, but not a very strong one and it took a lot out of her, we could see. That's when they gave her the necklace. My powers started to grow rapidly too, I had too much accurate knowledge to be learning it from the mirror, it wasn't until after I told my dad not to go to work that they realised I was a Seer, you see that day there was an explosion at the office where he worked, killing fifteen people, thankfully my father had listened to me after I couldn't stop crying trying to tell him."

Wow Chloe must have been through a lot with Kayla, it was apparent that they were very close, but I could sense this was leading somewhere, it felt like Kayla was stalling, and after seeing for myself the agony she felt when she was lying, I knew none of what she was telling us was a lie, even if there was more to it than she was saying. I waited for her to continue.

"Okay well, soon my Dad's work took us away and we were gone for long periods of time, that's when Chloe started to talk to ghosts more often, she would go into her basement and play hide seek with some of the ghost there, they were actually quite nice, there was Mrs Flora, and Mr Drake and a cat we called him Casper, yes I could see the ghosts too, but not the same as Chloe I could only see the ghosts through a mirror, but when you're a kid it doesn't really matter you make a game of it. The crazier the more fun, right? Anyhow, my family went on a real long trip about three weeks before Chloe's fifth birthday, when we came back Chloe was so quiet, terrified, and she steadfast refused to go into her basement anymore, I was curious, so I went to look in the basement, I used my mirror to see around, I called for Mrs Flora and Mr Drake and Casper. Anyway, I was looking in the mirror and I saw this really old lady, she had pointy teeth and her skin was grey and rotting I ran out of the basement screaming she tried to follow me, she moved so fast well she grabbed my arm, needless to say she got me. Good."

Kayla lifted up the sleeve of her dress, across her upper left arm were five deep slashes, were it looked like the skin, had been _gauged_ out. I heard Tori gasp.

"A ghost did that to you?" Simon asked

"Kind of, when she was alive she was a half demon" Chloe answered "She called herself Mrs Hobb" she shuddered at the memory, I put my arm around her and pulled her closer

"Wow, I didn't think ghosts could do that, I mean she physically scratched you, and you were only what four? That must have been awful for you" Simon said

"It was worse for Chloe" Kayla said "are you sure you want me to continue, I mean this is a big deal"


	9. Chapter 9

A firm nod was Chloe's only reply, just how bad was it; I could see tears starting to form in Chloe's eyes.

"After that I was afraid to go into Chloe's house anymore. Well one night I was staying at another friend from Pre K's house. We were asleep by 7:00. Chloe's parents had gone out and the girl three doors down was sitting, Emily. I had this awful dream, Emily called Chloe into the basement, and with reluctance Chloe went down, except when she did, the door slammed shut, I heard Chloe scream, it was pitch dark, but I could see Mrs Hob she dragged Chloe by her hair and slammed her hard against the furnace, hard enough to crack her head, she already had bruises forming on her arm from being gripped so hard and thrown across the room, I could feel Chloe's fear and pain, and I knew it wasn't just a dream, it never is, but still I couldn't wake up, That's when I felt Mrs Hobb-"

Kayla looked ready to crumble and burst into tears, and Chloe was outright crying now albeit silently and looking at the wall away from us, but I could smell the salt in her tears, typical Chloe though so stubborn she doesn't want us to worry, I pulled her towards me holding her close and tight to my body, letting her cry into my shirt.

Kayla continued after a moment, everyone was looking thoroughly aghast Simon was stood beside Kayla, looking for all the world like he wanted to drag her into his arms and hold her as tight as I was Chloe.

"That's when I felt her _slice_ Chloe's wrists, I felt the blood pouring out of her. Then everything started to blur and I felt Chloe hit the concrete as she passed out from blood loss. In the distance I heard Emily calling from the kitchen, by the basement door, and Mrs Hobb was laughing.

I felt Chloe's heart slow, and then, and then stop. I felt Chloe die. I felt her leave her body, and become a ghost. That's when I saw it. There was a large black hole in the basement, it looked like, like nothing, just black space, a man appeared in the hole as I watched.

He had dark hair and soulless dark eyes, like an endless abyss, I felt like I could lost in them but not in a good way, I felt like he could steal my soul looking at me with those eyes. Then he grabbed Chloe and pulled her into the hole, I heard screams, and I felt pain all over my body, it wouldn't stop, it went on for what felt like forever. I woke up screaming; I ran to the mirror in the bathroom and banged a hard as I could screaming for Chloe's dad, Steven. After about thirty seconds he appeared.

I told him Chloe was in danger and ran from the bathroom, straight out of the house, I ran to Chloe's, I knew the way and even though it was dark and I was in my pyjamas barefoot and over three miles away I knew I had to get to her."

Tears were streaming down Kayla's face now and Simon had given into his urge to hold her, even Tori was silently shedding tears, Lauren was in absolute shock, she had frozen and her legs suddenly gave out, Dad caught her and set her down I just held onto Chloe offering what comfort and solace I could provide, no wonder she hates the dark. Wait, that didn't actually happen to Chloe, did it? Kayla answered me by saying

"Unfortunately I got there too late to stop it."

"I can't believe you don't hate me for locking you in the crawl space, at Lyle house, you hate the dark. No wonder." Tori gaped

"But your alive now Chloe, so how...how?" Lauren stuttered

"Mom" Chloe said


	10. Chapter 10

"Where?" I asked

Chloe shook her head "My mom is the one who saved me, she brought me back to life at the cost of her own, the car accident was dad trying to get her to the hospital, she was too weak and gave into her injuries instantly. You see the place my mom pulled me from was hell."

"This is where you get concerned, because, Chloe was technically dead for six minutes, in hell, that's six years, she shouldn't have been there, but Lyle dragged her in."

Dad's head snapped up at that, we all began to listen intently as Kayla said

"Yeah, Samuel Lyle." Kayla stopped to take a deep breath

"You know you don't need to tell us this, if it's too much" Simon said

Dad looked like he wanted to object and make Kayla continue but I looked at him and shook my head, both Kayla and Chloe were breathing heavy from crying too much

"No, we have to tell you everything Chloe trusts you and so do I. You need to know in case-" She looked Chloe in the eye and both nodded slightly, I don't think anyone but me noticed it was so slight.

"In case the worst should happen" Chloe continued, pulling herself together

"What do you mean?" I asked though I think I already knew

"Both of us have too much power for anyone, especially Lyle to get hold of" Chloe answered, her meaning clear, if she had to die to stop Lyle getting her powers, but what powers?

Chloe was one hell of a Necromancer, but not that far away from the ordinary, any Necromancer could raise the dead really.

"Chloe's power is so much that she can-."

She paused briefly, flicking her head and glancing toward the bathroom mirror, visible through the open door, as though she'd seen something out of the corner of her eye, but she looked back towards us so quick I think I must have imagined it.

"She can embody the dead" Kayla finally said, she stepped back but was busy watching dad's reaction. He gasped and reared back away from Chloe looking like he was terrified of her

Simon looked back and forth between, Chloe and Dad, "What does that mean, Embodying? How is it different from raising the dead?"

"Simon, Embodying means, I can give a ghost a new body, made from their spirit, perfectly alive again, I can bring the dead back to life, entirely. That's why Lyle wants me, he wants be to bring him back to life. I can't let that happen. No matter what.

If I have to kill myself and be banished to limbo I'll do it. He can't get me or Kayla no matter what, I'm powerful enough to embody the dead, and there is nothing Kayla isn't capable of." I briefly noticed Kayla was gone, until I heard-

"If you could embody ghosts why did you never embody me, I would be able to watch over my family and feel, and have them know I was there, talk to people besides you, or without you as a go between, I thought we were friends Chloe!"


	11. Chapter 11

"Liz, no listen, that's not the way it works, the world needs balance, a life for a life, if I brought you back and believe me I considered it more than once someone else would die, I don't get to choose who, but someone with a life of equal value.

It could even be Tori or Simon or Derek. It could be any teenager, good or bad, within a 2 mile radius, and don't think I haven't tried to get around those conditions, believe me I have, destiny always gets her way, no matter how hard.

And anyone who dies because of an embodying, they don't die, they die, die. Their soul, spirit, whatever is burnt up, it just disappears gone forever.

Trust me, and Embodying can't be reversed without the embodied soul going through complete and total agony, the pain of their soul being burnt up. Imagine being burnt alive, but from the inside out."

There was a pause while everyone listened to Chloe talking to Liz, that's when it struck me, I could see and hear Liz

"Can anyone else see Liz?" I said. She was wearing, what I assume she died in, long giraffe socks and a Minnie mouse tee that was like a dress on her

"Liz" Tori said

Chloe and Liz both turned to look at Tori, everyone was completely shocked that they could see Liz

"You can see me?" Liz said, on the verge of tears

"How is this possible?" I asked

Tori ran right over to Liz and hugged her, forgetting she was incorporeal, except, she wasn't she was solid, that's when I noticed I couldn't smell her

"She has no scent" I said

Everyone was too happy to see Liz, seemingly alive to notice, but Chloe did

"Liz has no scent?" she asked, lost in thoughts at once

"Am I alive again? Chloe did you embody me?

On no, did someone die because of this, I didn't want that. Chloe?" Liz asked

Chloe was gone again. Everyone turned to her for an explanation when suddenly her head snapped up and she yelled "KAYLA!" and ran to the bathroom

That's when I really registered Kayla was gone, I ran after Chloe thinking if Kayla had come through the mirror, and gone back through it, maybe Chloe could too and that she might follow Kayla through I was sure I couldn't go through too so anything that happened to Chloe I wouldn't be there to protect her from, the thought terrified me.

I stopped when I noticed Kayla stood stock still staring into the small mirror she had climbed through, Chloe stood next to her crying and trying to shake Kayla and pull her away from the mirror.

"What's happening?" Liz asked

"What's wrong with Kayla?" said Simon, all of them coming up behind me but unable to get into the small bathroom with Chloe and Kayla, with me in the doorway.

"Kayla, come on snap out of it, don't make me do this, pull away, come back. Kayla, Kayla. Come on Kayla!" Chloe called

Seeing that it wasn't working, Chloe took a deep breath about to move, I realised she was about to do something stupid so I stepped forward and placed a restraining hand on her arm, she stilled and turned to look at me.

"Liz, Kayla is the one who did this to you. I don't know what she's done she hasn't embodied you. But now Kayla is trapped. Because she is so powerful, she can become entrapped or rather enthralled by the mirror, and while the mirror is her greatest strength it's also her biggest weakness, if she becomes enthralled anything between her and the mirror, burns away, anything, and if the mirror is broken, then she'll die."

"How do we snap her out of it?" Simon asked

"I've only seen her enthralled once before, I was able to talk her out of the trance, she can still see and hear everything but she can't respond. The thing about Captromancers is, they can never see what they look like, but it's worse for Kayla than most."

"What if we put a spell in the way? That might work. Dad? " I said, thinking about it

"Yes that could work actually, but it'd need to be a pretty powerful shield, I don't know if I could get that kind of power" Dad replied

"Simon could." Tori surprised everyone by saying


	12. Chapter 12

"What?" Simon yelped

" Yeh. Your defence spells are, can't believe I'm saying this – Chloe's having a good effect on me – better than mine" She said

" What?" pretty much everyone except Chloe and Liz exclaimed, Chloe was openly grinning, Liz looked surprised but not like she was moments away from heart failure unlike Simon. It was actually kind of funny, or would be if Kayla weren't in a pretty much life or death situation.

"I told you so." Chloe whispered, I knew she only meant for me to hear it, I mean I was pretty bad to Tori.

"Tori as nice a thing that is for you to say, which is totally out of character for you , I can't do much more than knock back and fog spells, and only if I really work at it, my powers are very weak compared to all yours especially yours Tori. Oh man I can't believe I just admitted that"

"Turnabout's fair play" a voice croaked

"Kayla!" Chloe wrapped her arms tight around Kayla

"How - ?" Chloe tried

"How did you get free if you were _enthralled_?" I finished

"Amazing what one can do when one's life or others are threatened." She croaked in reply

"What do you mean?" I asked my senses going on full alert, for some reason the hair on the back of my neck was standing up on end and a chill ran up my spine, it felt like someone had just walked over my grave. Wow weird analogy to use when one is in love with a necromancer.

"Chloe, he's coming, you know we can keep hidden but I used mega energy to help Liz, we gotta get out of here, all of us, I think I manage to open the mirror, but we'd be safest on The Plane, do you think they'd be ok there?" Kayla said

Okay, what is she talking about? "What's The Plane?" I asked

"No time for explanations. Do you trust Kayla?" Chloe asked us

"Yes" I answered without hesitation, after she helped Chloe as much as they said, I can do no less and be indebted to her. Although she looked almost dead and was needing to be fully supported by Chloe.

"Thanks Derek, though I wouldn't go quite that far" Kayla whispered

Wait how did she - ? Oh right psychic empath, duh.

"Well I trust her" Simon answered

"Me too." Tori

"How could I not" was Liz's answer

"Yes, I think I do" answered Lauren

"Dad?" Simon asked

"Yes I trust her" Dad answered

"With your life?" Kayla asked, looking dad directly in the eye

Dad didn't look away, just said after several seconds "Yes" though it was the most uncertain yes I'd ever heard.

"good enough" Kayla said, she place her hands back on the mirror, eyes closed this time, and it started to shimmer blue, the view in the mirror shifted to a cosy little living room with large comfy looking sofa's and an open log fire, the curtains on the tiny old cottage windows were dainty emerald green, rugs on the floor looked to be home made and picture hung on the yellow walls decorated by small dark arches and beams, the whole thing looked like it had come off a hallmark Christmas card, but it was beautiful. It looked like home. A well loved home.

"Come on everyone through quick, he's close and I'm too weak at the moment to hold this for very long, Chloe, Tori, Liz , through quick. Simon Derek then Lauren Kit. Now"


	13. Chapter 13

It was the urgency and steel in her voice that spurned me into action I grabbed Chloe up and shoved her through the mirror, to my acute surprise she landed in the hallmark room without injury, next I lifted Liz to help her through the mirror, then Tori, Simon managed on his own, I wanted to make sure everyone was through safe before me so I went to step back and let dad, Lauren and Kayla through before me but the next thing I knew I was flying head first through the mirror, Lauren and Dad came flying through behind me and I knew Kayla had been the one to shove us.

Chloe ran toward us and I thought she was going to help me up but she ran over to the door where Kayla was standing, arm hanging through but faced away, faced towards a hideous dark shadow, which looked like it could once have been a man. Kayla had her other hand raised to him, and was about to attack him with a spell, or would have if Chloe hadn't grabbed the arm through the mirror and yanked her decidedly through, as soon as Kayla started to move the shadow roared and charged the mirror, I heard Tori and Liz shriek and step back behind me, Simon, Lauren dad and I moved forward to protect Chloe form the shadow man but as soon as Kayla was through, the mirror snapped back flat and the shadow man slammed into it, roaring with anger he started to hit the mirror in fury, to everyone's horror, even mine, the mirror started to crack, thankfully Kayla waved her arm and the door turned black.

"What the hell was that thing!" Tori yelled from somewhere behind me, Simon was helping Chloe and Kayla up, Kayla looked like a corpse too pale and fragile, next to her, Chloe looked like steel.

"That, Tori was what is left of Samuel Lyle." Chloe answered she smacked Kayla in the chest "That was dumb, you know he can take your powers if you use them on him, that's what he wants"

"Sorry" Kayla croaked

"here" Simon said as he helped her up.

"Thanks, sit down, i'll light the fire" she replied

"No, your too weak, Derek and I'll light the fire and lamps, the old fashioned way. That was a really stupid thing to do, getting yourself enthralled like that, but thanks for helping Liz, even though you don't really know her. What did you do any way?" Chloe rambled

She had already started to light the various candles and oil lamps dotted about the room, she handed me a bunch of matches and gestured to the fireplace, i assumed she wanted me to make and light the fire. I piled a couple of logs onto the iron rail and scrunched up some paper from beside the fire and lit it, whilst listening to Kayla.

"well, to shorten a long story, *cough* i *cough* i've made Liz a *cough cough cough* a Phantom."

What the heck was a Phantom?

"well Derek a *cough* Phantom is *cough cough cough cough cough cough cough* -" Kayla tried

"oh no, you, just rest there and go to sleep, save your energy, Lyle can't get in here, and I can explain what a Phantom is, you just go to sleep. Now.!" Chloe commanded

"K" was all Kayla said before her eyes slid shut and she went limp in Simons arms.

"Simon, there's a corridor through the door over there" chloe pointed at a large mahogany door I hadn't noticed til just then " the second door on the right is Kayla's room, make sure to light the fire but leave the lamps off and draw the curtains, oh and lock the shutters."

As Simon carried Kayla through the door and along the corridor as Chloe had directed she turned back to the rest of us and said

"I'll explain what a phantom is later, right now although I'm positive Lyle can't get in here, Kayla is too weak now to protect from anything else that may come, and while there should be nothing, it's safer to be prepared. Aunt Lauren, Mr Bae, along the corridor through there" she again gestured to the door

" there are seven other doors, the second door on the right is Kayla's, the one beside it is Kayla's workroom, don't go in, the other five are also bedrooms, lock the shutters tightly in each room and light the lamps and fires, here are some matches"

she handed Lauren the rest of bundle she had used to light the lamps in the living room. Lauren and Dad went straight off, trusting in what Chloe had told them, though I saw Dad pause for a fraction of a second outside of Kayla's workroom.

Chloe turned to Liz, Tori and I and instructed "Those two doors over there, the one on the left is the bathroom, again, light the lamps and lock the shutters tight." Tori turned and did as Chloe asked, probably still shell shocked and reeling from the last half hour, I know I was.

"Derek" Chloe said, breaking me from my reverie "the door on the right is the kitchen, lock the shutters, light the lamps and light the oven, also try to find something we can all eat, doesn't matter what, I'm gonna shut down in here, Liz the small door on the right over there beside the fire, could you please open it and lift the purple lever?"

"Sure" Liz complied

Chloe crossed to the window beside the large dark oak door, I assumed would be the actual entrance to the house- cottage really – and reached up catching a hold of what I had thought was the frame. She pulled it down and bolted it with a slat of wood from the side of the base of the frame it looked like it was just a part of the all- except made of wood with curtains strung across it.

I turned and look for the doors Chloe had pointed out, I opened the door on the right and wasn't all that surprised to see what looked like a farmhouse kitchen, I was beginning to get a feel for the house – and Kayla.

I did as Chloe asked and lit the lamps and stoves. There were five windows and i walked over to them and mimicked what Chloe had done to lock the shutters, once i was confided they were all secure I walked over to the corner of the kitchen and lit the fir beside the apparent back door, which I also noticed had a large shutter to draw across it. I made sure the door itself was firmly locked and then drew across the large oak shutter, which I noticed was covered in strange markings.


	14. Chapter 14

I turned around and looked for the fridge, it was one of the latest models, pretty large and a sleek black with '2011' stamped onto it. At first glance it didn't seem to fit with the old rustic scenery of the rest of the kitchen, but upon closer study I realised that whilst the kitchens design was old fashioned the furnishings were actually brand new and seemed to have been made to look old by using dull and tarnished colours to make the room _look_ old.

"Derek, did you find anything?"

I jumped at the sound of Chloe's voice as she came up behind me.

"Hehaha. It's nice to see that I'm not the only one that does that, so did you find anything to eat?" she asked

I had been too busy looking at the room that I'd forgotten to look in the fridge. Oops.

"Haven't had a look yet. Where exactly is this place? _What_ exactly is this place? And what did Kayla do to Liz to make her into a Phantom? What is a Phantom?" I knew I was asking a lot but I felt uncomfortable being in a situation where I didn't have all the information, I wasn't prepared, and lack of preparation led to danger. Like at Lyle house. Thinking about that place brought up many more questions, about Samuel Lyle. I was about to voice them to Chloe when she said

"This will have to do for now"

Whilst I had been going through everything I wanted to know in my head Chloe had made up some meagre peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and grabbed a large bottle of juice and some green apples from a fruit bowl.

"Come on, into the living room and I'll explain everything" she said taking my hand and leading me into the living room. Her hand was so soft and small in mine, yet they fit perfectly, like they had been made for each other. Wow. Getting into that a little too deep Derek. I reminded myself. WAKE UP.

I noticed that I had let Chloe blindly lead me into the living room and had situated me on the largest of the three emerald sofas, I pulled her into my lap before she could protest, which to my surprise she didn't.

Everyone else came back into the room Dad and Lauren took one of the other couches and Liz and Tori took the other, whilst I noticed Simon just stood beside the door which opened onto the corridor to Kayla's room. Chloe passed out the sandwiches and tossed an apple to Simon, she handed me three sandwiches and an apple, she knows me well.

"Here guys, sorry there wasn't much in the kitchen, I don't think Kayla's been here in a while. Strange she practically lived here when her-" she ended abruptly, her eyes downcast.

"When her what?" Simon gently nudged

Heaving a sigh Chloe stated "when her parents were murdered."


	15. Chapter 15

"Kayla's parents were murdered?" Simon asked, shocked "By who? When?"

"*sigh* I better start from the beginning, or rather were Kayla left off. After my mom died, my dad and I moved away, we couldn't stay in that house anymore because of everything that happened. Even if I couldn't see the ghosts anymore. I think the trauma of everything that happened, made me block it subconsciously. I dunno."

"If the trauma blocked your powers then how come you can see the ghosts again now?" Tori asked, honestly I was wondering that myself

"I think it was kind of coming of age" I understood what she meant by that, puberty, that's what triggered my early change, too.

"It was only the day before I arrived at Lyle house that I started to see ghosts again, in the corridor of my school, of course no one else could see him and the teachers thought I was crazy and sedated me before packing me of to 'the nuthouse'" Chloe continued

"Well anyway - what none of us realised was that because I had died when I shouldn't have and that Lyle pulled me into hell, and even more, that my mom pulled me out. Well it had caused a _tear_ I guess? In the veil between here and the netherworld. Limbo.

Limbo is the tween space between heaven, hell and earth. It's where Liz went when she wasn't on earth. Sometimes spirits haven't let go of their lives completely, or haven't fully come to terms with their death. If that's the case judgement can't be passed, judgement is the deciding on whether a soul is worthy of heaven or not or if they should be sentenced to hell. Well you get the idea.

Lyle managed to get through the tear, that's why he looks the way he does, he's a _damned_ soul."

Chloe paused for a moment to let us take it all in. And it was lot to take in, but my instincts told me this was only the beginning, and whatever she told us next was going to be much worse.

I noticed she was taking deep breaths trying to compose herself; it must be an extremely difficult situation for her to tell us about.

I also got the feeling she was following what Kayla had said earlier, and telling us all of this because she expected the worst should happen.

Not if I could help it, there was no way I was going to let anything take Chloe away from me. Ever.

I pulled her closer to me, holding her tight to my chest, squeezing her hand in reassurance that everything would be alright. She looked up to face me, and gave me a small smile before turning back to the others with a deep breath, to continue.

"Well, needless to say, when Lyle got through and discover I no longer lived there he killed the occupants. He was drawn to Kayla; she was the stronger magical source for miles. Kayla's mother Charlotte came from a long line of psychics and she sensed Lyle coming. Kayla's dad Alexander was a sorcerer he tried to hold Lyle off, but Lyle had acquired a new talent in hell.

He can steal people's powers when they are directed at him, he feeds off of their powers to keep himself intact in this world, since he's damned, he's not supposed to be here on earth, only the Fallen are allowed to walk the earth from hell, they're like the worst imaginable souls the opposite of the Guardians – angels of heaven, the purest souls. Pray you never encounter a Fallen, considering that Lyle _didn't _make the cut, you can imagine how evil they are.

Lyle shouldn't be here so his soul is decomposing, the magic he steals regenerates his soul but not for long, and the more powerful the power the longer it lasts, that's why he can't get Kayla, as a Captromancer anda Seer, she's like the Jackpot. And he's already had her once*sob*"

I could see Chloe was going to break down into tears again

"Chloe, continue this later, we all need to get some rest any-"

"No. I _need_ to tell you guys everything. Now. Or I'm not sure I'll find the courage to do it again."

Taking another deep breath she explained just what she said. Everything.

"In any case, Lyle killed Kayla's father Alexander. Her mother, Charlotte ran Kayla upstairs to her father's study; he had a mirror in there that my dad had created as a portal – to this place, as a sanctuary for Kayla. She gave her, her father's journal – _Libri Lux Lucis_."

As Chloe said this dad's eyes widened and he shot out of his seat.

"Libri Lux Lucis?" he asked standing up "Kayla has the Libri Lux Lucis? The-"

"-Book of Light" someone finished.

I turned to the corridor door, Kayla was stood there, she'd changed her clothes, she was wearing a pink pyjama tank top and striped pink and purple bottoms, her long hair was tied back messily. She looked more normal now. Less witchy. No offense.

"None taken" Kayla smiled looking at me. She turned to Dad then

"Yes Kit. I do have the Book of Light. It's in my work room."

"Can I-"

"Yes you can see it, but not right now, later. As Chloe said we need to tell you everything."

"How long have you been awake?" Simon asked sounding concerned

"You need you rest Kayla. Go back to-" Chloe said getting up from my lap and walking over to Kayla.

"No, we need to finish this. There's more I've got to tell you, but they need to know the past and to understand it first" Kayla said looking Chloe in the eye. They were having some sort of unspoken communication again. It kind of irritated and upset me that Chloe was keeping things from me, leaving me out but then again Kayla is her best friend, which made me feel guilty for feeling mad that I was being left out and the fact that I felt guilty just made me mad at myself for feeling that way. Which was very confusing.

Kayla smiled, then, somewhat conspiratorially and glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. She pulled Chloe back over to me then walked over to Simon and pulled him to sit over beside the fire on the wool rug there.

Chloe sat back down on my lap as Kayla continued, with all eyes on her.


	16. Chapter 16

"As Chloe said, my mother gave me my father's journal The Book of Light. In case you don't what that is, it's a book that contains _all_ the knowledge of Good magick. The first seven magick families created it, it's basically _everything_ about Good magick, my family is descended from one of the first seven – the Lucero family.

Anyway my mother pushed me through the mirror, I thought she was coming through after me but she grabbed the sides of the mirror, and I watched as Lyle stuck his hand through her chest and ripped out her heart, but she still had enough strength to break the mirror. And the connection that Lyle could get through. She gave her life to save me, just like my father."

Kayla was in tears, and Simon pulled her into his arms, holding her close, making me pull Chloe closer to me too. They'd both been through so much.

"*sniff* *sniff* I didn't have anything else to do put to study the book, so I taught myself, taught myself everything in the book, I know every page, every word."

"After Kayla's parents were killed my dad went to investigate, cause there'd been no mention of Kayla's death in the papers, she'd just disappeared.

Dad left me with the housekeeper while he went to find out what had happened to Kayla. I got worried and thought about how I could contact her, that's when we first realised that I could summon Kayla through the mirrors. She came through the mirror, I was so happy to see her." Chloe smiled.

"Yeh. And I was a little bit of a show off and wanted to show you what I'd learned. That was the first time I ever got enthralled.

I forgot what your dad had told me, to never look myself in the eyes."

"Why can't you look yourself in the eyes?" I found myself asking "You said that you have the eyes of truth, how can the truth enthral you like that?"

Smiling, Kayla answered me "Actually not being able to look yourself in the eye is a Captromancer thing, but don't worry Derek, Chloe has Captromancer power in her so weak the rule doesn't really affect her"

I guess she realised that I had come to the conclusion if it was Captromancer thing and Chloe was a Captromancer it meant she could be enthralled. I didn't ever want to see Chloe trapped like that, what if I couldn't talk her out of it?

"And it's not really the eyes that trap us, it's the soul. The eyes reflect the soul. You know the saying the eyes are the windows to the soul, not true. At least not entirely true. The eyes are the mirrors of the soul.

And for a Captromancer whose powers come from mirrors well, we see our souls. You're not supposed to do that, most souls are so pure that you get trapped in the light of them; others you get trapped in the darkness of them.

For me it is a little bit worse than most because being a Captomancer I can see my soul, but cause your powers are housed in your soul, I see _everything._ The whole of time. Every second. I literally get caught in the moment. That kind of knowledge is-. It's really hard to escape.

But that's how I saw Lyle coming back at the motel. Most often I see things because I've either searched or scryed for them. Or I've had a premonition of something that the fates feel I need to know.

Well anyway, getting back on track. When I looked myself in the eye in Chloe's mirror I became enthralled. Thankfully Chloe was able to talk me down, but I don't think that would work again, my powers are much stronger now, I don't think I could break free.

My enthralment is _a lot_ of power. Enough to attract Lyle."

I think I could see were this was going, but a hoped I was wrong. I looked down at Chloe on my lap for confirmation or denial that what I was thinking was wrong, but she was just staring at Kayla trying to blink back the salty tears streaming down her face. Maybe it was wrong of me, but I thought even said she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. I love her so much.

"We weren't prepared for Lyle, I hadn't seen him coming, I didn't know to look for it, and seeing every second of time – it's hard to pinpoint the next moment." Kayla paused to take a deep breath, confirming that what we were about to hear was as bad as I had thought.


	17. Chapter 17

"Needless to say Lyle showed up, and because Chloe had blocked her powers she couldn't see him, and I was too weak to stop him from - *sob*"

"Stop him from what?" Simon tentatively asked, pulling slightly away from Kayla, who was still in his arms, just enough to look down at her.

Looking back up at Simon she replied

"You know what your dad said. About knowing the true name of something."

Simon's eyes widened at this admittance so did Dad's, I noticed, I was shocked myself.

Kayla continued "That it allows you to control them indefinitely."

"So Lyle knew Chloe's true name?" Simon asked her beseechingly. Though I think he knew, just like the rest of us that it wasn't Chloe Lyle had controlled, it was Kayla. I think he just hoped that Kayla hadn't gone through something that horrendous, on top of everything else.

"No. He knew mine." Kayla answered "and because Lyle is dead, he was able to do more than just control me. He possessed me.

I can keep stuff like that happening to me normally but after pulling myself out of the enthralment I was too weak to stop him from possessing me. And too weak to stop him from-. From using my powers to torture Chloe.

He wanted to force her to use her powers to embody him."

"Kayla tortured you Chloe?" Tori asked sounding confused. Which I was thankful for as I was shocked beyond words.

"No, no, no. it wasn't Kayla at all. It was Lyle, just Lyle. And he almost killed Kayla too in possessing her. The body only has room for one soul at a time. And for two souls of such strength, from opposite sides to inhabit the same body would eventually burn the souls out, or at least the weakest one, which at the time was Kayla's. I knew it wasn't her doing it to me. I knew Kayla would never hurt me. And I recognised her soul, and when I looked into her eyes they showed only the black of Lyle's." Chloe rushed to explain

"So that's what you meant when you said someone had controlled you before. That you'd had enough of it for a lifetime." Simon said

Kayla just nodded.

"So. What happened? How'd you get out of that?" Simon asked again

"I lied" Kayla whispered, then more boldly continued

"I couldn't think of anything else to do to get out of that situation. So I told Chloe I hated her. The pain I feel when I lie, it forced Lyle out of me and banished him. Chloe didn't know when could share the pain of it with me, and she rushed over to check on me. The pain was too much for her and she passed out. Her dad came home and found us moments later, he patched Chloe and me up"

"Kayla. One question I have to ask." Chloe said out of the blue, looking at Kayla

Kayla looked back with a sad and _guilty_ expression on her face. Why did she look guilty?

"Why did I forget you?"


	18. Chapter 18

Wait. What? What did Chloe mean forget? Hadn't they been friends this whole time?

"Chloe and I haven't seen each other in over ten years. She only remembered me recently and only because her powers resurfaced." Kayla answered my thoughts

"But why did she forget you to begin with?" I couldn't help but question. What had made Chloe forget her best friend who she'd been through so much with?

Kayla turned to Chloe again, smiling sadly

"Sorry sweet, I made you forget. I locked your memories of me, and everything else away"

"You used a memory spell on me? _Why?_" Chloe asked, desperately, as though she was trying to understand and failing. Honestly I couldn't understand why Kayla would want Chloe to forget her, they were so close and Chloe seemed to be the only thing Kayla had left

"Two reasons. One: I didn't want you to remember the pain you'd suffered, your powers at the time were gone and Lyle had no way of finding you again, but me being around you would have drawn him again. You were safe as long as you didn't remember, and it was for the best that you just forget about me."

Chloe got up then and walked over to Kayla and knelt beside her and wrapped her arms around her

"It would never be for the best for me to forget about you Kayla." Chloe said still holding Kayla, tears trickling silently down both of their cheeks, as Kayla hugged Chloe back.

Simon just sat back recognising the need they had to comfort each other. I could understand why Kayla had done what she did. In her position, I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't do the same. It didn't matter if Chloe forgot about me and what we shared, as long as she was safe.

Kayla must have noticed what I was feeling because she looked through Chloe's arms at me and gave me a small smile and nodded her head as if conveying her thanks to me, for understanding and relating to her obviously painful, and lonely decision.

As unperceivable, and unrecognisable as the gesture was Chloe must have noticed it, because she tuned her head to me, still holding Kayla in her arms, and looking me directly in the eye said

"It would never be for the best for me to forget anyone I love"

Warmth spread through me as Chloe again, albeit this time indirectly confessed her love for me. It was a feeling I knew I would never be tired of. A thrill that went through me. A thrill of pride that I was the one lucky enough, to have a girl as beautiful as Chloe's love.

Wiping away their tears, Chloe and Kayla pulled away from each other sniffing and smiling. A thought occurred to me then:

"What was your other reason for making Chloe forget then Kayla? You said there were two."

Turning to me Kayla said

"Because Chloe's dad asked me to."

"WHAT?" Chloe yelled very shocked

I think we all were judging from the shocked apparent on everyone's faces, no one was expecting that.

"Your dad didn't want you to remember anything Chloe and I agreed with him, he didn't want you to remember you mom's death or for you to feel like you were responsible for it the trauma was too much for a five year old"

"What about you Kayla, you went through everything I went through and more. You watched both you parents _murdered._ Don't you think that's too much trauma for a _six year old_? To go through _alone?_" Chloe argued "You had no right to take that decision from me."

"Maybe not but I thought was best for you and so did your father. He also asked me to bind his powers. He didn't think that he could be able to resist using them if he had them and he was afraid Lyle would detect it and find you. He didn't want that to happen again" Kayla continued

"You bound an adult Cap romancer's powers when you were six years old?" Dad interrupted with wide eyes and tones of awe and trepidation in his voice: though in my opinion, slightly more awe.

Kayla simply nodded her head as if it were nothing and I had to fight back a grin, as Chloe said

"I told you there was nothing Kayla wasn't capable of" with what was undoubtedly an 'I told you so' tone of voice


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE BUT MY COMPUTER GOT BADLY DAMMAGED AND I LOST ALL MY FANFICTIONS !*cry* I HAVE HAD TO REWRITE AND TRY TO REMEMBER BUT IT MAY TAKE A WHILE THANKFULLY I ALWAYS MAKE HAND WRITTEN NOTES ON NEW IDEAS FOR MY FANFICTONS THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS PLEASE CONTINUE TO READ AND REVIEW I LOVE READING THE REVIEWS MAKES ME FEEL I'M DOING A GOOD JOB WRITING. ANY SUGGESTIONS ON DIRECTION FOR ANY OF MY FANFICTIONS JUST MESSAGE ME THANX**

**~MIKADO xx**

"Um. Sorry to interrupt but my own curiosity is getting the better of me. What exactly am I now?" Liz questioned

Everyone turned to look at her sat beside Tori I had forgotten we hadn't got an explanation of what a Phantom was.

"Yeh. What is a Phantom? I've been learning about magic almost all my life and I've never heard of a Phantom before" Simon voiced

His voice seemed to spurn Kayla to explain

"Well a phantom is a for lack of a better term, a shape shifter. But a shifter between life and death. So-" Liz cut her off

"So I'm still dead?"

"No, Liz. You are not dead. Your body hadn't been dead for too long and it hadn't been shut down because of injury, it was a lethal injection. I scryed and found your body, which I then summoned healed the damage the poison had done and ejected the remnant from your system, reattached your soul and gave it kick start.

But I was only able to make you into a Phantom because you were recently dead and your soul hadn't _crossed_ yet.

A Phantom can move between life and death, so while you are alive you can detach your soul and do what is called astral projection rather like a Shaman can, you can also make your body incorporeal but since your body has died once this is your permanent death state so whenever you 'ghost' you will look exactly as you do now even if you're in your 60's.

Which is another thing Phantoms have a longer lifespan so you could probably make it to 200 years old easy. You still have all your other powers though from when you were alive and a half demon – you know telekinesis and that but you now also have telepathy and a very strong sixth sense due to being on the Ghost Plane for so long."


	20. AUTHOR NOTE : HIBERANTION

**A/N SORRY BUT I'M PUTTING THIS STORY INTO HIBERNATION FOR NOW. I HEAVENT BEEN GETTING MANY REVIEWS AND HONESTLY IT'S DEPRESSING SO I'M GOING TO STOP WRITING AND UPDATING FOR THIS STORY UNTIL I GET EITHER MORE REVIEWS OR UNTIL I GET MORE CONFIDENT IN MY WRITING SO I DON'T CARE WHAT PEOPLE THINK. WHICH EVER COMES FIRST. LIKELY THE FORMER AS I AM NOT A VERY CONFIDENT PERSON. ANYWAY SORRY, I MAY BE BEING MEAN BUT REVIEWSX ENCOURAGE ME TO WRITE MORE AND HELP ME DEVELOP INSPIRATION SO FOR THE TIME BEING I'M STOPPING THIS STORY.**

**~MIKADO XX**


	21. AN : SORRY NOT AN UPDATE BUT IMPORTANT!

**SORRY THIS IS NOT AN UPDATE! I AM CONTINUING WITH THIS STORY THOUGH, SLOWLY. THANK YOU FOR THE ENCOURAGING REVIEWS THEY REALLY HELPED! : ) THIS IS JUST A NOTE TO SAY THANKS FOR THOSE REVIEWS REALLY, AND TO SAY THAT I AM PERSEVERING WITH MY STORIES – ANY FANS OF HARRY POTTER IF YOU WOULD PLEASE READ MY HP FANFICTON ALSO AND REVIEW I WOULD APPRECIATE IT. ANYWAY THANKS!**

**OH! ALMOST FORGOT! IF MY LAPTOP HAS DECIDED TO CO OPPERATE – THEN I HAVE POSTED PICS OF WHAT IN MY MIND KAYLA LOOKS LIKE, IT WAS KINDA HARD TO FIND A GOOD PIC – SO THERE ARE DIFFERENCES – IE – HER HAIR SHOULD BE A BIT MORE CURLY/WAY AND HER EYES ARE BROWN, BUT OTHER THAN THAT SHE IS A PERFECT MATCH TO MY VISION OF KAYLA.**

**I HAVE ALSO – HOPEFULLY – POSTED THE PICTURE OF A FUTURE CHARACTER –ADRIAN.**

**HEHE! I PROMISE I WILL TRY TO UPDATE SOON!**

**~MIKADO XX**


	22. VERY IMPORTANT AUTHOR NOTICE

Hi There

Anyone reading my stories or even just this one I'm sorry, but I've decided that I'm actually a terrible writer, and I get constant writer's block, so I'm likely going to give up on writing – BUT NOT on telling stories – because, I have loads of great ideas but there reason I keep getting writers block is because I know where I want my story/stories to go but I have a difficult time filling in the in between – the actual writing. So I've decided to stop writing. That being said I really like telling stories, or at least inventing them, and I would like to ask for help from other authors or even readers of my poor stories. To do co-writing – sorta. I would like to collect my ideas in a profile, so that someone else can take those ideas and write the actual story – if you understand? I don't know if anyone would like to do that or not or if its allowed or whatever – but if anyone who reads this is interested in that PM me. If not then this serves as a notice to say that I will not be continuing writing this story.

My Apologies

Thank You

Mikado X Goddess


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